In this thesis, academic boundaries such as philosophy, literature, religion, and Buddhism are broken. Using René Girard (1923-2015)’s theory of desire as an analysis tool, I tried a new reading of the Shuzhang 書狀 (The Letters of Chan Master Dahui 大慧). Here, the letters sent and received with three people: Sūn yǔ 孫與, Zōngzhí gé 宗直閣, and Céng tiānyóu 曾天遊 were intensively analyzed with the theory of desire. In his letter, he revealed that there is a desire to be recognized for the view and state of Chan, the desire to suppress or shake off emotions, and the desire to live like a monk. And he explained that all these desires are nothing more than mimetic desires, and have nothing to do with Chan or enlightenment.

Dahui Zonggao 大慧宗杲, René Girard, Mimetic Desire, Romantic lie, Shuzhang 書狀, Chan Buddhism